I Borg
'' |image= |series= |production= 40275-223 |producer(s)= |story= |script= René Echevarria |director= Robert Lederman |imdbref=tt0708732 |guests=Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan, Jonathan Del Arco as Third of Five / Hugh |previous_production=Imaginary Friend |next_production=The Next Phase |episode=TNG S05E23 |airdate= 11 May 1992 |previous_release=Imaginary Friend |next_release=The Next Phase |story_date(s)=Stardate 45854.2 (2368) |previous_story=Imaginary Friend |next_story=The Next Phase }} =Summary= The crew discover a wrecked Borg scout ship with a single survivor: a young Borg drone. Dr. Beverly Crusher insists on treating the surviving Borg despite the concerns of Captain Jean-Luc Picard . He insists that the Borg is confined and monitored by security forces at all times and is unable to contact the Borg Collective. Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge and Lt. Commander Data assist Crusher in bringing the Borg back to health. As they come to understand the workings of the Borg, La Forge and Data postulate an idea of using the Borg drone as a weapon of mass destruction. By implanting an unsolvable geometric formula into his mind and returning him back to the Collective, the formula should rapidly spread (similar to a computer virus) and disable the Borg. Crusher is aghast at this suggestion, considering it equivalent to genocide, while Picard and the other senior crew deliberate on the ethics of this plan. The Borg drone initially calls himself "Third of Five", he ends up referring to and understanding himself as "Hugh" – the name given to him by La Forge. Hugh discusses how the Borg only wish to learn about other cultures through assimilation, but La Forge counters this argument, discussing aspects of individuality that make them human and unique. In further debates, La Forge finds himself becoming a friend to Hugh, and begins to doubt his previous idea. This is further complicated when Hugh shows elements of individualism. The crew now debate whether it is appropriate to sacrifice one individual to protect the majority, though Picard is still insistent on destroying the Collective. Crusher and La Forge arrange to have Guinan who has a similar loathing for the Borg because they destroyed her homeworld, speak to Hugh. She finds Hugh to be not a mindless drone but a young confused man, and she agrees Hugh is no longer a Borg. Guinan convinces Picard to meet with Hugh, as well, and he comes to the same conclusion, in part because Hugh refers to himself as "I" instead of the Borg's collective "we" during their discussion. Picard abandons the proposed plan and instead offers Hugh asylum within the Federation. Hugh expresses enthusiasm at the prospect of remaining with La Forge but ultimately refuses, recognizing that the Borg will still come looking for him. He offers to be returned to the crash site, where he will be found and re-assimilated by the Borg. Picard hopes that, once Hugh is reconnected, the sense of individualism Hugh has learned will spread throughout the Collective. La Forge accompanies Hugh to the crash site and, from a safe distance, watches the Borg recover him. Just as the Borg transport out, Hugh turns to give La Forge a parting glance. =Errors and Explanations= Internet Movie Database Continuity # There is a security guard in the detention area who presses a wall panel to activate/deactivate the force field that secures the detention cell; he does this several times early in the show. On the occasion when Worf and Geordi visit the cell, he presses the wall panel, deactivating the field so that they can enter. Once they step inside, though, the field comes back on all by itself, without the wall panel being touched by the guard. When Worf and Geordi leave the cell, however, the guard touches the wall panel each time like before to deactivate/activate the force field. The guard could have activated the auto reactivation mde when Worf and Geordi entered the first time. Incorrectly regarded as goofs # Hugh refers to himself as 3rd of 5. When he is finally picked up by the Borg scouts later in the episode, the scouts only seem to attend to three other bodies besides Hugh, who is being transported back with them. During his search of the area at the beginning, Worf did report four more bodies, although even then only three bodies were shown. This could simply mean that the fourth Borg was lying somewhere off-screen. Plot holes # When Riker is assembling an away team, he calls Dr. Crusher and orders her to bring a medical team to the transporter room. However, when they beam down, the only away team members are Crusher, Worf, and Riker. No extra medical team members are present. It may have been deemed prudent for the other medics to remain in the transporter room until they were actually required. Nit Central # Chris Booton (Cbooton) on Sunday, May 23, 1999 - 11:06 pm: If Hugh wants to separate from the collective then why not de-Borg him? I'm sure Crusher could have done it, and it worked for Picard and Anika and the Borg don't obsess over getting them back. That was because there were other drones available – Hugh was the only survivor from his ship, so the Collective would want to learn everything he had discovered. # Why doesn't Hugh regenerate when he is damaged? It's been clearly established that the Borg can do this. Fandom User 73.168.216.182 The regeneration ability is only possible when it is the focus of at least a small collective. They explain this idea during the Star Trek: Voyager series. Seniram In any case, the regeneration capability may have been compromised by the crash. # Amy on Tuesday, January 04, 2000 - 11:23 pm: Before they beam Hugh aboard, Capt. Picard tells someone to get a detention cell ready (or something like that.) He then tells LaForge that they need to block the Borg's subspace signals. LaForge replies that he'll set up a subspace dampening field around the detention cell. How did he know that they were going to put Hugh in a detention cell? I suppose he just assumed that, but he seemed pretty sure of himself. He probably heard Picard's instruction regarding the detention cell. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Sunday, May 12, 2002 - 4:02 am: If the Federation is at war with the Borg, then couldn't Dr. Crusher's attempts to save the life of Third Of Five be considered an act of treason or at least giving aid and comfort to the enemy? LUIGI NOVI on Sunday, May 12, 2002 - 2:15 pm: Not if she has Picard's permission to do so, and we know Picard's reasons for "rescuing" Hugh are to use him to destroy the Borg.Sophie Hawksworth on Sunday, May 12, 2002 - 3:21 pm: In present day war, our doctors treat the wounded from both sides. Jesse on Saturday, May 17, 2003 - 6:27 am: Actually, I don't think that giving purely medical attention is considered "aid and comfort." Didn't they help out North Korean soldiers on M*A*S*H now and again? TJFleming on Monday, May 19, 2003 - 12:17 pm: An answer: The Geneva Convention requires humane treatment of prisoners. =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation